


Shadowplay

by vampirekiki



Series: Shadowplay [1]
Category: Alice Nine, Jrock
Genre: Alternate Universe, Horror, M/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 02:19:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3592650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampirekiki/pseuds/vampirekiki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mysterious encounter, and an outcome no one could foresee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Shadowplay part 1

~*flashback*~  
 _  
Saga was just a little boy when he first went to visit his Aunt ._

_Before they went on a trip to visit this estranged relative of theirs, Saga’s parents only told him that he and his mother were to visit his Aunt Mito--his mother’s younger sister; and the two of them would go staying in her house and lived together with her ‘for a while’._

_What his parents didn’t mention to him was that his Aunt had just lost her family two years ago, although the woman seemed to be coping with her grief at first, still as time past the sorrowful woman slowly became mentally unstable, her physical health was also failing. The family’s trip to visit the sick woman wasn’t just a simple visit, Saga’s mother had decided to stay to look after her poor sister, at least for the time being, before the rest of the family could get together to decide what to do with Mito._

_Opinions were divided among relatives, some of them thought Mito would go back to normal eventually, the rest of the family would have to give her help and support in her time of great need, but there was no need to send her to get medical help. Having a mental patient within the family would only bright shame to the family’s good name._

_Other relatives insisted that Mito needed medical help as soon as possible, family’s pride should be put aside for the woman’s well being._

_As Mito’s very own sister, Saga’s mother decided to leave those arguments behind and went to stay with her sister for a while; thinking she needed to care for the younger woman before she could get better. She would have gone to her sister by herself if it was possible, but her own son, Saga was too young, the boy couldn’t have been left behind without her care, especially when Saga’s father needed to go out to work during most of the day. Therefore, she had to bring her son along to visit her sister._

_They went in the first day of the winter holiday, Saga’s father had taken a day off just in order to drive his wife and son to his sister-in-law’s house._

_Mito lived in a small town which was located on hillside, away from of the city, it took a few hours for the family to drive there._

_Upon arrival, Saga stepped out of the car and took in the first look of his Aunt’s house, he gasped at the sight before him._

_Back in the city, Saga and his parents lived in a standard apartment, and most of his friends and their own families also lived in apartment buildings, but right now the boy found himself standing before a spacey two storied household made of brown red bricks, surrounding by a small lovely garden and dark red brick walls. The boy was deeply impressed._

_The child then followed his parents into his Aunt’s house, and was surprised to see no one was there to greet them, for a house so big, it seemed to be so...quiet._

_After removing their shoes, the family walked further into the house. No one spoke, Saga didn’t know what to think, neither of his parents had told him exactly what to expect, but the serious expression on his parents’ faces effectively stopped him from asking questions._

_Finally they entered the living room, once again Saga’s breath was taken away by what he saw there. Both the design of the living room and its furniture had an European touch with them, with white elegant flowers held together in an antique vase, afternoon sunlight streaming through a large window into the living room, it was just like a scene from a movie._

_A middle age woman sat before the large window, Saga couldn’ t see his face because she was sitting against the sunlight. He could only make out that this woman had jet black long hair, slim long limbs, and was wearing an elegantly embroidered deep grey long dress._

_“Mito.”_

_Eventually it was saga’s mother who broke the silence in the room._

_Aunt Mito. Saga realized the woman he was looking at, was in fact his Aunt._

_“Oh, sister.” Mito seemed to be smiling now, as she slowly raised from her seat to greet her older sister and brother-in-law. “I’m so glad you had came to see me.”_

_The sisters embraced each other in the middle of the living room, and only after everyone had made themselves comfort on their seats, Mito seemed to finally notice the nervous little boy sitting next to her sister._

_She smiled kindly at Saga.  “You must be Saga right? You surely had grown up a lot since we last met you!”_

_Saga smiled back shyly and nodded, even though he didn’t remember seeing his Aunt in the past. Plus he wasn’t so sure who were the ‘we’ Aunt Mito was referring at._

_Nonetheless, the adults began to talk about various things. Saga’s mother asked after her sister’s health, and the latter insisted, in the same warm and gentle manner, that she was fine and there was nothing to worry._

_Saga was only half listening to their conversations, until suddenly he heard Aunt Mito said. “Wouldn’t it be nice for Saga to go playing with my little boy while we talk?”_

_Saga looked up then, took aback by Aunt Mito’s suggestion, at the back of his mind, he was caught off guard by the mention of his aunt’s son. Even since he entered this house, not once did he notice there was any hint suggesting a boy was also living in this house. There was no photos on display, no toys lying around on the floor, there was no laughter, there was no child’s footsteps running from here to there. Within this house all Saga could hear was silence, all that met his eyes were stillness._

_Upon hearing Mito’s words, Saga’s mother went tensed, his father shifted uncomfortably on his seat and he went even more quiet than before._

_Saga didn’t know what to do, from his parents’ reaction, he could guess that they_ did not _like his Aunt’s suggestion, although the boy could not guess why. But now Aunt Mito was sitting there with her kind smile, looking at him expectantly, waiting for an response._

_After a long stretch of heavy, suppressive silence, it was his mother who spoke up again. “Saga, go outside and play.”_

_The boy looked up at his mother, still uncertain._

_“What’re you waiting for? Go outside. We adults need to talk.”_

_This time Saga stood up instantly. His mother didn’t raise her voice, but he still knew_ that _tone. Her tone had made it very clear that what she was saying was_ serious _, and her words were order, not a suggestion. He would better do what she had requested instead of lingering around._

_So the little boy slipped off from his seat and walked out of the living room as far as he could._

_Only when Saga was out of earshot, his mother took a deep breath and started trying to reason with her sister._

_“Mito, I am very sorry to mention it, but--” She paused, then forced herself to finish what she had just started. “You have to accept it, it’s about your son---”_

_***_

_His mother said he could go out and play, so here Saga was; escaping to the garden outside of the house, escaping from the stiffness of his Aunt’s elegant yet lifeless living room, from the adults’ strange conversations, which made no sense to him. Some fresh air would do him go, the boy thought to himself as he walked into the garden._

_This garden was so different from the rest of the house, with sunlight streaming down from the treetops, everything looked bright and healthy. It was a lovely place, and it was also so huge, he wondered briefly of how did a mansion like this come into Aunt Mito’s possession._

_Little did Saga knew this house once belonged to Mito’s husband, and now his Aunt had became the owner._

_Having nothing particular in mind, Saga wandered into the deeper part of the garden, the garden was in fact pretty, but it didn’t have so much space for running and exploration, the little boy could only walked along the paths. He realized there wasn’t much he could do, especially when he had no playmate to play game with---_

_Saga didn’t see it coming when a ball being thrown at him, hitting him right at the forehead._

_“Oui!” Saga rubbed his forehead as he bent down to pick up the ball, it was a red toy made of soft plastic so it didn’t really hurt him, still it wasn’t nice to have someone thrown a ball at you._

_“Who’s there?” He called out as he looked from side to side, hoping to find the mysterious ball-thrower. He still couldn’t see anyone else in the garden. However, he remembered the ball seemingly had been thrown out from behind the trunk of an ancient tree not very far away on his left side._

_As he watched, a shade seemed to shift behind the trunk, which made Saga feel more certain that whoever had hit him must be hiding behind the tree._

_Crossing his arms before his chests, the boy demanded: “Come out, I know you’re there!”_

_He didn’t get any verbal reply, but he did see another small red ball fell from treetop, and then hit the ground before it rolling soundlessly away, disappearing among the grass._

_For a moment Saga was puzzled, he swore he had just seen a figure moving behind the tree trunk seconds ago, why would the same person be moving so fast up the tree in the next second? He didn’t see the other one climbing up there!_

_But curiosity quickly weightened out his doubt, the little boy took a few quick steps forward and now he was standing beneath the tree._

_Then he looked up. Although the sunlight was slowly fading, Saga still managed to spot a small figure high up among the greeny tangles of branches and leaves._

_It was a small black haired boy, who seemed to be slightly older than him sitting up there, peering down at him; he wasn’t smiling, but neither did he look angry nor unfriendly. He looked like he was a few years older than Saga. How did the other boy climbed right up the tree so fast?_

_“Oh, I didn’t see you here!” Saga exclaimed, calling up to the boy who sat among the branches._

_This time the boy did smile._

_But Saga wasn’t smiling back. “It’s not nice to throw ball at people, you know?”_

_The older boy only shrugged, saying nothing._

_“Maybe we can play together.” Saga was disappointed that the boy didn’t even bother to apologize, but he shrugged the thought away, for having a playmate was better than having no one at all._

_In order to win the older boy over, he had to try again. “ I’m Saga. What’s your name?”_

_This time the black haired boy shot his head, not saying a word. Instead of answering, the boy’s hand was waving in a gesture, urging Saga to do something…..._

_Saga smiled mischieving, he knew the other boy must be playing some sort of game with him by not telling him who he was; even though he knew very well who this child had to be. Since the little boy was living here in his Aunt’s house (he had to be living here right? The gate was locked, and the walls surrounding the house were too high to climb), so there could only be one possibility._

_And he knew what the other boy were urging him to do._

_“But...I’m not supposed to climb a tree.” What would his parents said about it if they ever found out he was doing something risky when no adult was around to look after him?_

_The older boy peered down at him, sending an impatient look at Saga’s direction; a look of challenge in those eyes._

_“Okay! I will do it!” Saga pouted, then he came to stand in front of the tree, and used his small hands to try climbing up._

_At the treetop, the quiet black haired boy watched as Saga slowly making his way up. A small lonely smile slowly graced upon his pale face._

_***_

_Days passed, Saga was having a good time in Aunt Mito’s household; in his innocent, unsuspecting eyes, his Aunt Mito was such a kindly lady, and her house was nothing less than a wonderland for adventures._

_But on the other hand, his mother’s worry for her sister only seemed to grow._

_As long as she didn’t mention anything about Mito’s past, the latter would do just fine. For most of the time, Mito was functioning quite normally, going through her daily routines without any problem. However, as days passed, the older woman could sense something was off with her younger sister. As much as she wanted to deny it, she came to an unwelcomed conclusion that her sister might suffer with delusion, among other symptoms. Not only the younger woman would talk to herself, she would also talk about strange, unsettling things, which frightened her sister._

_In the end, Saga’s mother picked up the phone, she told her husband and a few other relatives about her observation, she told them what she thought had to be done on her sister’s behalf._

_When a decision was finally made, Saga’s mother told her son it was time for them to leave and go back to their own home._

_Soon the day of departure arrived, Saga and his mother was ready to leave. Once again Saga’s father had came to bring them home, now the car was parted just outside of Mito’s home._

_“Did you have fun, Saga?” Mito bent down and asked her nephew as she saw him and his mother off at the front gate._

_“Yes, aunt.” Saga replied quietly. He was a little upset to leave his Aunt and his new playmate so soon, but he didn’t want to show it in front of his mother. For some unknown reason, the mention of staying with his Aunt in this house seemed to upset his mother, as though she really wanted to leave._

_“So will you come and visit me and my boy again?” Smiling brightly, Mito asked the boy expectedly._

_“Sure, aunt!”_

_Saga didn’t see his mother’s face tensed upon hearing his words, for a moment she looked very, very disturbed._

_“Saga,” She breathed slowly in order to keep her voice even. “ Get inside your father’s car, I need to talk with your Aunt.”_

_Once again recognizing his mother’s tone, Saga said a quick goodbye to his Aunt and walked toward his father’s car._

_Once again, Saga’s mother waited till her son was out of earshot before she began to talk again. “Mito, we had arranged for a doctor to check on you regularly. His name is Dr. Suzuki and he will start visiting from tomorrow.”_

_“Why, sister?” Mito asked innocently. “For how many times must I tell you? I’m_ fine! _”_

_“You need help, Mito.” The older woman replied firmly. “It’s for your own good...”_

_***_

_Saga sat on the backseat of his father’s car, waiting for his mother to arrive, he could see his mother standing with Aunt Mito, the two of them was deep in conversation. He couldn’t pick up what they were saying from a distance, but whatever his mother was saying, it obviously had make his Aunt unhappy, for she seemed to be so...upset?_

_But...why?_

_His train of thought broke off as he saw a small figure appearing at the gate, he saw his little black haired playmate standing a few steps behind his mother and Aunt Mito. He was holding one of those crimson color balls in his hand, and the boy was waving at Saga’s direction._

_Instantly Saga sat up straight and waved back, but none of the adult seemed to notice what he was doing._

__  
to be continued.

What do you think?


	2. Shadowplay part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: yaoi=guy loves another guy, don’t like don’t read

Shadowplay Chapter 2

Hiroto cursed his own stubbornness and bad luck as he walked along the narrow path through an overgrown woods, all the way up to the hilltop. Complete darkness surrounded him as the moon disappeared behind the layers of clouds from the night sky, he had nothing but his flashlight to lighten his way. There was no sound expected his heaving breath and the small crushing noise of his feet stepping on tiny branches and half dried grass underfoot.

He was wandering in the middle of the night all because of a stupid bet, his friends had betted on him to chicken out of a challenge to go into the infamous Haunted House in the neighborhood. The thought of losing face in front of his peers was humiliating, he had to prove them wrong.

So off he went to the Haunted House, going through this creepy woods, with nothing but a weak flashlight to guide his steps through the uneven, muddy path uphill. A thin film of sweat was formed above his eyebrows, the night air was moistened with the summer heat, Hiroto felt his body warming up a bit too much despite the sleeveless shirt he wore.

Everyone in the area knew about the story of the Amano household, supposedly some 10 years ago the house on top of the hill was just another ordinary household with an ordinary family living inside its four walls. But at one point everything was turned upside down. Supposedly people were found dead in the house (the cause and the number of death were both rather confusing, everyone seemed to have different theories and numbers) and the widow of the house owner, the sole survivor of the family, was soon rumored to have gone mad. After that, all sort of weird, scary stories were spread like wildfire: some said witchcraft was involved, some said children had supposedly disappeared around the area and were never found again, some insisted that they had seen _ghosts_ within and without the Amano household.

For most of the time, Hiroto and his friends thought the tales surrounded the abandoned house up the hill were nothing but a bunch of nonsense; urban legends among teenagers and empty ghost stories for adults to scare children with; but high up in the woods, Hiroto wasn’t so certain anymore. 

Just when the darkened two storied house finally came into view, the short teenager suddenly heard a cry from afar, the sound was animalic, high-pitched and bloodcurdling, Hiroto shivered at the sound but he was quick to remind himself the noise was nothing but some bird of prey hissing at night.

Now, no one lived there anymore, one or two years ago, even the widow of the house owner was found dead in the house. After the woman’s death, supposedly a distant relative of her had inherited the house up the hill, but instead of moving in, the new house owner simply sealed off the house and let it be, no one even went near it anymore. 

There were walls surrounding the abandoned house and the rusty iron gate was locked, but it was no secret that some parts of brick wall had fallen off over the years and were never repaired, leaving enough room for people to crawl through and got into the garden. 

Now standing outside one of the fallen parts of the brick wall with a fading red color, Hiroto knew he had a simple mission to complete: he needed to get into the Haunted House, grip a random item from within the house---any item would do, to proof that he had actually been inside, and then got the hell out of this godforsaken place. It should not be so difficult. 

Watching the quiet house and the stilled woods surrounding it, he noticed the former Amano household wasn’t as creepy nor horrid as he had imagined as a typical ‘haunted house’. From the outside, most of the windows seemed to be still intact, and the walls were, surprisingly, clean and free of graffiti. If it weren’t for the lack of lighting, the thick mass of wild ivy covering half of the house and the overgrown garden, the household looked like it was ready to take in residents in any time.

Before entering, Hiroto drew in a deep breath to calm himself, once again he reminded himself the stories he had heard about this house was nothing but _stories_ , as long as he was careful he wouldn’t end up getting hunted. His mind was made up, he would do it and get back to town as soon as he could.

Although at the back of his mind, Hiroto was aware of the fact that what he was going to do was illegal and it was wrong to enter private property without permission, but once again he reasoned with himself that it was not supposed to be serious, it wasn’t like he was breaking in to steal anything of value; any valuable item would long be removed from the house before the new owner sealed it off, right?

The youth climbed in through the broken part on the wall--it was just large enough for a slim teenager to get pass, within the next second he was inside the overgrown garden.

Getting through the tall grass and got close to the two storied building was easy, but how to get into the house itself, that proved to be a more difficult part. It took him a long moment of nervous searching in the dark to finally find a broken window, which enable him to get through, into one of the rooms on the ground floor.

In order to get in without cutting himself with the broken glasses, Hiroto must switch off his flashlight for a moment, he swang his legs for a few times before jumping down and landed on his two feet on what felt like a carpeted floor.

Although the smell of an unused room filled with dust was rather unpleasant, still Hiroto smiled at his successful achievement of breaking and enterin.  He straightened himself at once and ready himself for some quick work, still thinking that he would just grip the nearest small item in the room and then run all the way downhill, he switched on his flashlight again. 

Only to find countless of fixed, glassy eyes staring back at him.

His hand shook, the yellowish light of the flashlight waved across the dark room like crazy. Everywhere the light touched, Hiroto could see small human-shaded forms everywhere, their smooth, emotionless porcelain-made faces were facing toward him, their tiny glass-made eyes fixing upon him, as if there were an army of mini-sized humanoids lying in wait for him. 

The rational part of his brain tried to tell him these were only porcelain made dolls, he was just inside a room which happened to be filled with dolls dressed in many different colorful clothes; and there should be nothing to be afraid of, but the larger part of him--the panic-filled part, failed to listen to this tiny voice of reason, especially when he realized he was surrounded by dolls from all sides, these dolls quietly stood or sat in the dark in absolute stillness, but somehow Hiroto still sensed that he was being watched. As though...as though the dolls were all holding their breath, watching the young intruder with their unmoving, unblinking glass eyes.

All Hiroto could hear was his feet moving, trying to back away from those horrid dolls; he was breathing fast now, his heart beating harshly to pump more blood to his limbs so he might run to safety. But his final string of reason finally snapped when he felt a small cold hand gripped onto his bare arm.

The youth didn’t sense any warmth, and the sensation of this hand...didn’t feel _right_ , it felt too...lifeless. Like a gust of cold wind blowing from the depth of a dark forest, like the touch of freshly turned soil. 

No one else was supposed to be in this house, but later Hiroto would swear he had definitely heard a childish voice speaking from behind him. 

_“Let’s play.”_

Hiroto screamed.

to be continued.


	3. Shadowplay part 3

Shadowplay Part 3

Years after his first visit, Saga made his second trip to his Aunt’s house by the end of summer.

During the first trip, Saga was a mere child accompanied by his parents. This time around, he was already a grown young man, fully capable of making the trip by himself; though he didn’t go alone. Instead of his parents, he was accompanied by a close friend named Nao; a cheerful, kind-natured fellow, who happened to write novels and articles for a living.

They were now in Nao’s car, on their way out to the small town surrounded by woodland, where Saga’s aunt, a woman named Mito residented. 

To be more particular, where Aunt Mito _once_ residented before she passed away about a year or two ago.

As the matter of fact, Mito had no living direct kin left aside from her older sister—Saga’s mother. Therefore after her death, and after all the legal process concerning her death and inheritance had been properly handled, the house which Mito had been living in till her death, had eventually come into her older sister’s possession. 

But Saga had been unaware of any of these details until quite recently; due to the fact that his mother was very unwilling to mention about her poor younger sister and the house she used to live in. From what Saga had observed, his mother seemed to be not willing to even set foot into her sister’s house.

It did feel a bit strange for his mother to be so unwilling to mention her own sister—but for most of the time Saga reasoned that it was because his mother didn’t want anyone to bring up Mito’s passing, and she probably didn’t want to look at anything that had once associated with her younger sister to become the reminders of her death.

It took his mother a very long time to consider; making up her mind, withdrawing her decision later, and then reconsidering the whole thing once more. Until finally, Saga’s mother decided she would like to clean out the house which Mito had left behind and sell it. To her, putting the house on sell was an attempt to get rid of the bad memories, other than an attempt to profit herself.

However, before Mito’s house could be put on sell, it needed to be cleaned up and probably got a restoration first; due to the fact that almost all the furniture and personal items within had mostly been left untouched after the entire house was sealed off, following Mito’s death. Therefore, they needed someone to do the tidying; separating unwanted items from the valuable ones. Normally, Saga’s mother would have undergone the progress herself; but at this time, unfortunately she wasn’t free to do that, so Saga had to go in her place.

Saga understood why his mother couldn’t go. After all, his mother was facing difficult issues with her own marriage. 

Her husband—Saga’s own father—had recently moved out of their home, and the couple had already decided to go through a divorce. 

Although neither of his parents was willing to tell Saga the true reason for the separation, still the blonde had guessed that it was because his father was having an affair with another woman, and the older man did not intend to go back to his wife. Nowadays, he rarely went home, save for coming back to get this personal item or the other.

To be honest, the tension between them had been there for _years_ , neither of Saga’s parents were happy about the situation they had found themselves in and they couldn’t think of any method to improve the situation. So, it was rather a relief to see them finally decided to end this marriage. Saga would stay with his mother for the time being, since rumors among their relatives had it that Saga’s father had already started living together with his...girlfriend.  

Surely, the blond-haired youth was upset, but he was no longer a kid. He could make do with the fact that his parents were going to separate—or so he had kept telling himself. 

In fact, Saga was rather glad to go; deep down, he was glad to be away from his parents’ house for a while, away from the constant fighting, from the dead silence in their home; away from the broken promises, failure and dissatisfaction hanging thickly in the air.

Fortunately, he had even managed to convince his friend Nao to go together with him, that would be better than going alone by himself.

For all of the reasons above, Saga was willing to overlook the strange consequences concerning Aunt Mito’s passing. Although the blond would not admit it, deep down he knew he did need time and space to think things over, and the mission of going over to the house left by Aunt Mito, had provided him a perfect excuse to go away.

Honestly, Aunt Mito had not crossed Saga’s mind for years, until he was finally informed by his less than willing mother that his Aunt had already passed away nearly two years ago. The news came as a total shock, not to mention the blonde was caught completely off guard by it; not only that it had been a long time since he last thought about his Aunt, also because he hadn’t been there to pay his last respect, which made Saga feel guilty and confused.

As his mother talked and more details were revealed, Sag learnt more about his estranged aunt’s life, and her death. Through his mother’s words, the youth learnt that Mito’s funeral had been suspiciously low-profiled. Only a few close relatives were presented in her funeral, even Saga—her nephew—wasn’t invited to take part.

“Why hadn’t you mentioned anything about her funeral?” Upset to find out he had been left out, Saga asked his mother in an upset tone.

“I…...you had school to worry about, I don’t want to add more pressure on you...” His mother answered reluctantly. 

Instantly, Saga sensed that his mother didn’t tell him the whole truth, but he didn’t have the heart to ask further. He did have schoolwork and other activities at that time, but his mother’s explanation still sounded rather weak. After all, it was her own _sister_ they were talking about here.

“Why did she die?”

“What?”

“Aunt Mito, why did she pass away?”

His mother closed her eyes then reopened them before she answered slowly, “Your poor aunt had a heart failure.”

Saga nodded, but at the back of his mind he wondered how his aunt, a woman who was a few years younger than his middle age but still perfectly healthy mother, would have a heart failure. Was Aunt Mito’s health so fragile? If it were the case, then why had he never heard his mother mentioning anything about her sister’s bad health? The only thing he could recall was the trip they made years ago to visit Aunt Mito, but after that...his aunt seemed to be forgotten entirely, Saga couldn’t even remember hearing her name in his parents’ and relatives’ conversation any longer; nor did the blond head ever see his Aunt again in any of the family’s gatherings. The woman had seemingly disappeared from everyone’s view, and now she had passed away. All he could do now was to empty out her house and help putting it on sell, it just didn’t feel right.

***

Nao’s car had to drive along a narrow road sandwiched between the woods as the car slowly made its way uphill. It was clear that not many people had driven past this road for some time already because the narrow road they were traveling upon had almost disappeared beneath the overgrown shrubs. 

“Hey, are you sure your Mom wants to sell a house which is set in the middle of this...forest?” Nao asked his friend playfully, though his eyes were still fixed on the road ahead of him; he would hate to drive his precious car accidentally off the road, or hitting a tree. 

Originally, the brown-haired young man wanted to say _‘in the middle of nowhere’_ , but he quickly thought the better of it and changed his wording.

“That’s the case, Nao,” Saga replied dryly. On the way up the hill, he had been looking out at the window, trying to recognise anything he had seen in the past during his short visit to Aunt Mito’s household so many years ago. But so far, he didn’t recall anything; nothing in this woods seemed to be familiar to him. Instead, the blond young man found this surrounding to be rather gloomy and slightly unpleasant. 

There was a woods in where his Aunt lived, that much he was certain. Still, Saga didn’t remember the woods surrounding his Aunt’s house to look so deep, quiet and...dark.  As far as Saga could see, in the wood there was no streetlamps alongside the road, not a single man-made item nor structure to mark any trace of civilization, trees surrounded them from all sides. It felt like they had been driving through the woods for hours and there was still no end of it, and the trees were so tall, their branches seemed to wove together beneath the grey cloudy sky, like a web. The sunlight that managed to seep through the branches seemed weak and fading, the soft ray of light could barely reach the ground.

Shivering, Saga wrapped his arms around himself as if the temperature had dropped. He looked at his watch, realising it was still daytime but deep in the woods, it was so gloomy that it almost felt dusk had already arrived. 

Suddenly, Nao’s voice broke his train of thoughts.

“Look? I think we’re almost there!” 

Saga looked ahead, indeed he saw an opening right ahead of them, just about twenty or so feet away.

Moments later, they got to the top of the hill, leaving the wood behind and Nao’s car had entered into a clearing. Smoothly, the car made its way across the small clearing before it came to a stop before a two-story red brick house. Nao stopped the car when it reached to the locked iron front gate. 

“Here we are!” Nao exclaimed as he opened his side of the car door and got out, with Saga following closely.

Once outside of the car, they both felt a gust of chilly wind blowing past them. Back in the city, summer was still stubbornly clinging to its every street, but up here in this hillside woodland, the weather was much cooler, the scent of autumn was already thick in the air.

There was a doorplate being tagged on the wall, right next to the iron gate, and the fading letters on the doorplate read: _Amano_. The family name of Mito’s late husband. 

They looked past the gate and into the house behind it, the house itself was made of bricks with brownish red color, with thick layers of ivy clinging to its walls. As expected, the front door and the windows were shut, There was no curtain hanging by the window, and all the two young men could see from outside was just empty rooms.

 

Saga brought out the keyring his mother had entrusted to him, and started unlocking the gate with one of those keys.

“The house still looks like it’s in working order, right?” Before arrival, Nao had half expected to walk into an utterly abandoned, broken-down house, but now he was proven wrong.

Saga explained. “I’ve heard my mother mentioned there’s a caretaker coming here to maintain this house, he comes once in two weeks. To make sure the house wouldn’t rot away, also to help repairing things just in case something is broken or in need of repairment.”

“No wonder.”

Minutes later, they had finished getting their suitcases out of the car and moved them all to the doorsteps. 

With keys in hand, Saga was ready to unlock the front door to his Aunt’s house. “Let’s go.” 

It took a while for Saga to work out how to turn the key correctly and the door was finally unlocked. Together, they entered the former Amano residence.

to be continued.


	4. Shadowplay part 4

Shadowplay Part 4 

First they opened the windows in the living room, kitchen and a few other rooms on the ground floor in order to let fresh air into the house, and then they had to take time reconnecting the electricity and water supply, making sure those were in working order before sundown. They would try to reconnect the phone tomorrow—if they had the time to get around to it. 

Once the two young men get the power up and water running, the rest of the day was mostly taken up by dragging the dusters off the furniture. They also did their best to sweep the floor of the living room, kitchen, bathroom and parts of the hallway, to make sure they would have a more tolerable living condition in the next one or so week.

By the time they got the ground floor done, the sun was already setting, but they still had yet to work their way to the second floor.

“I feels like I have already done a whole year worth of housework within a single day!” Saga joked as he moved yet another large plastic bag of garbage to the hallway.

“Sure it does feel that way,” smiling, Nao replied good-naturedly. Armed with a few pieces of clean cloth and a bucketful of water, he was going upstairs to the second floor, to make sure the two had a clean spot or two to lay down and spend their first night within the former Amano residence.

“Though I doubt you have done much housework back home, Saga.”

The blonde knew Nao’s remark was supposed to be a joke, still the mention of ‘home’ reminded him of his parents, of his ruined homelife, how everything had crumbled down so rapidly before he could even blink.

 _Home._ He thought bitterly to himself, when this trip was over, he would return to the city, to the house he had lived with his parents for almost his entire life, but he would not feel going back to this house was the same like going home, not anymore.

The pair had agreed to split the tasks at hand: Nao would get two rooms clean up and ready for both of them to sleep in on the second floor, whilst Saga would bring the garbage bags out to the backyard. After that he would go upstairs to help Nao, when everything was settled, they would sit down in the kitchen and served themselves some honest-to-goodness instant noodle, and then called it a night. 

Putting his plastic gloves on, Saga started to move the garbage bags to the back door one by one. He walked past a few closed doors along the hallway on his way to the back of the house. They still didn’t have time to unlock every door yet, but the blonde thought there would be plenty of time to clean those rooms out. 

Dragging one of the heavy garbage bag behind him, the blond-haired youth reached the back door in no time, and then unlocked it with one of the keys given to him by his mother. He walked a few stairs downward, and then he was in the backyard. After years of being left with nothing but the barest of maintenance, the yard was filled with weeds reaching to the height of Saga’s thighs. Some of the plants were still visible among the tall grass, but they were only barely surviving. The blonde did remember there were many trees in Aunt’s Mito’s garden but he didn’t recall those trees, their tangling branches, to merge together with the woods outside of the red brick wall. 

Saga found an empty spot among the tall grass and dumped the heavy garbage bag there, before going back to the house and dragged yet another one out. The progress was repeated for a few times until Saga had all the bags emoved to the backyard. He knew they would burn some of the unwanted items here: fading papers, unwanted document and wooden objects, etc. As to the rest...the blonde thought they would figure out how to deal with the rest later.

He was about to get back to the house when he saw a bright red round object rolling across the ground, just a few feet in front of him.

Bending down, Saga reached out a hand to catch the round object, only to find out it was a small ball made of soft plastic, a child’s toy. He straightened himself, staring at the crimson ball on his hand as he frowned in confusion. Where did this little thing come from…?

Puzzled, the blonde turned his head to where he thought he had seen the ball came from: on the left side of the garden. At first, nothing seemed to be out of place, until his eyes came into focus and then he saw there was a boy standing beneath the ancient tree.

A boy he didn’t notice was there when he had previously been busy moving the garbage out to the yard.

For a moment Saga didn’t know how to react, he was never a person who was good at interacting with children, Nao was much better than him on that field; but much to the blonde’s frustration, his brown-haired friend wasn’t there in the moment.

Meanwhile, the boy was still staring expressionlessly at him, never uttered a word. The boy had jet black hair, his pale face angular despite of his tender age, the dark-color shirt and the trousers of the same color was made of rich, smooth fabric, suggesting that he most likely was from a well-to-do family.

The boy was holding something in one of his hands, and soundlessly, the boy loosened his grip on the object, letting yet another red plastic ball to fall from his hand. The ball dropped, and then started rolling across the grass-covered ground, all the way to the spot right next to Saga’s feet. 

“Who are you?” Saga asked softly, thinking it was just some kid sneaking into the garden to play, though he had no idea why would a child from the neighborhood would choose to get into the someone else’s garden at this time of the day.

The dark-haired boy didn’t answer his question, he simply stood there calmly, showing no sign of nervousness or shyness of a child facing a complete stranger. 

“Come and play,” that was all the boy said in reply.

“I can’t,” as if in a trance, Saga answered mechanically; his own voice sounding strange and stirred to his own ears, “I have stuffs to do.”

The boy pouted in disappointment, shaking his head, “But you will.”

“What?”

Then for the first time, hint of a smile ghosted across the boy’s face, “You will play with me, you will.”

Saga was about to say something but he was interrupted by a voice calling out from behind him.

“Saga! There you are!”

The blond youth turned back, only to see Nao walking toward him. The latter must have gone back to the ground floor without him even noticing.

“I’ve heard you speaking to someone out there. Who were you talking to? Are we having visitor?“ The brown-haired man asked.

“It’s just...” Saga turned his head back, his arm raising to point at the kid in the garden, but his words died at his throat once he realised the spot where the brunette boy had once stood, was now empty.

Confused, he stole a glance at his own hand, the small red ball he had previously picked up, was still there.

Finally he turned back to his best friend, now he didn’t know what to say. 

Nao raised an eyebrow, “Well?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing,” shaking his head, Saga put the red ball into his pocket, before walking backward to his brown-haired friend.

Despite Nao’s confusion, Saga didn’t say anything further.

to be continued.


	5. Shadowplay part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: yaoi=guy loves another guy, don’t like don’t read.

Shadowplay Part 5

_  
At dusk, Saga walked through the front door and entered Aunt Mito’s house. After closing the door behind him and removing his shoes, the little boy stood up and looked around him. The hallway was deserted, he tried looking at the direction of his Aunt’s living room, but it seemed also to be empty._

_Frowning slightly, the boy walked further into the house, he walked towards the entrance to the living room only to be confirmed that no one was there. He was about to turn away and left, when he heard a quiet voice calling out to him._

_“Saga.”_

_At first he had no idea where this voice came from. Nonetheless, he recognised this familiar voice instantly. It was his playmate!_

_The boy jumped into the living room, now he was encouraged to find where his raven-haired playmate was. He must be somewhere within this room…..._

_At first, he still couldn’t see anyone else within the room. It almost fooled him, almost. However, it was changed when he noticed a figure seemed to be hidden behind the long curtains by the windows._

_Grinning from ear to ear, Saga quickly walked towards the window, and pulled the hem of the curtain up to reveal what was hidden underneath._

_He wasn’t surprised to find his playmate standing behind the curtain, with his back pressed against the window, smirking at him once the curtain was pulled aside._

_Saga grinned back in response, he knew his playmate had something in mind when the latter smirked like this. The other boy was always so nasty! He couldn’t wait to hear what the other had in his mischievous mind._

_“Sagacchi, let’s play,” the raven-haired boy suggested with a smile._

_It was what Saga had expected. Play! Who was he to turn down an invitation of playing?_

_Saga let go of the curtain and exclaimed, “What will we play today?”_

_“Let’s play Hide and Seek,” the raven head replied readily._

_“Then who is going to be the Oni?”_

_Oni, the demons from folktales, but in children’s game, the one who was chosen to be Oni had to catch his playmates in order to finish the game._

_After a round of ‘rock, scissors, paper ’, it was decided that Saga would be the Oni in the first round._

_Then, Saga dutifully went to stand facing the wall nearby, covering his eyes with his palms to make sure he couldn’t see where his playmate had run off to._

_Saga counted from ten to one, then he called out, “Are you ready?”_

_After a pause, he heard a voice answer back from a distance, from somewhere within the house._

_“Not yet!”_

_Keeping his palms firmly against his upper part of his face. Saga counted from one to then  again, then called out once more._

_“Are you ready!?”_

_“Yes.”_

_This time his playmate’s voice sounded lighter, fainter; like it came from somewhere even further away._

_The ‘yes’ was the signal he was waiting for. Glad to hear that his playmate had found somewhere to hide and the game could finally start, Saga slowly removed his hands and turned back, the room was empty now. It was up to him to find his hidden playmate._

_“Where are you? ----” He called out and started moving towards the hallway. The entire house seemed empty to him, the whole place became very quiet and still. Little Saga couldn’t see any sight of the adults, perhaps his mother and Aunt Mito had gone out?_

_He checked the living room again, and then went to the kitchen, but no one was inside._

_It felt a little bit strange, his mother would usually inform him beforehand in case of her needing to go out; plus his Aunt rarely left her own house at all. So...where were they now? Did they also join the game of Hide and Seek, and were now hiding away from him?_

_Saga almost laughed at his own thought, he knew how unlikely it was for his mother and aunt to do this kind of childish thing. Hide and Seek is for children, wasn’t it?_

_Saga walked past the glass doors facing towards the garden. Aunt Mito’s garden was bathed in the crimson afterglow of the setting sun; but the double glass doors were closed, so Saga convinced himself he didn’t need to worry about his playmate running off to hide in the garden. After all, there was an unspoken rule about not going _outside_ of the house during Hide and Seek. When the game started within the house, it stayed inside the house instead of expanding to the outside._

_Though searching for his playmate within Aunt Mito’s house was not an easy task, the household was spacey with many rooms and long corridors. There were many long curtains and other pieces of large furniture which could provide good hiding spots._

_Having no luck in finding his black-haired little playmate on the ground floor, Saga slowly made his way upstairs._

_“Where are you?”_

_The boy walked along the hallway, looking into one room after another, his footsteps echoing against the creaking wooden floor with every step he took. Still much to his disappointment, his playmate was still nowhere in sight._

_Finally there was only one room left before him. Now he stood before the door to Aunt Mito’s private room, and it didn’t take long for him to notice the usually locked door was slightly ajar; was his playmate hiding inside? He had already looked everywhere he could think of, therefore it was almost a certainty that his playmate was hiding in the remaining unchecked room._

_The thought of pushing the door open and walking in, was tempting enough, still Saga hesitated, was it really okay to enter Aunt’s room without permission? Saga knew his mother would be displeased if she found out!_

_However...it wouldn’t be so bad to just open the door a little wider and then just_ looking _into Aunt’s room a bit? He swore he wouldn’t do anything more than just_ looking. __

_With this thought in his mind, the boy slowly reached out a small hand towards the wooden door, then pushed it backward._

_There was no light within Aunt’s bedroom, the fading glow of the setting sun left her room shrouded in crimson shadows; from where he stood, he could only make out the dark shapes of some furniture._

_He peered further inside, hoping to get a better look._

_The next second, the boy stumbled right back to the hallway; his fall sent him to hit right against the wall behind him._

_For the first time in his life, Saga’s mind became blank in pure shock, his eyes were so wide that they seemed like they would fall from their sockets in any given second._

_The boy couldn’t make sense of what he had just seen in Mito’s room,it felt as though the world as he knew it had just been turned upside down, all the knowledge he had previously gathered, everything which had been taught to him was being thrown out of balance. No one had told him anything about this. He couldn’t even tell what he was seeing._

_What was it? What did he just see? What did he just see?_

_His legs felt like they were made of puddling, making it difficult for him to get up; Saga could only watch as slowly, slowly the bedroom’s door was being opened wider from the_ inside.

 

***

Saga woke up with a start and the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling above him, it took him a few more seconds to remember he was in Aunt Mito’s house instead of his own bedroom.

He sat up, running a nervous hand through his locks of hair only to find them damp with cold sweat. His eyes started wandering everywhere at once trying to detect something-- _anything_ unusual within his room, but thankfully everything seemed to be normal. Weak rays of daylight was steaming faintly into the room he had spent a night in, but at this point, even the dim light seemed welcoming to him.

After making sure that nothing was out of place, Saga fell back to bed with a groan; feeling out of breath and worn despite of his slumber. He could feel his heart was still beating fast within his ribcage, out of fright. 

His heart was beating so rapidly, his mind so troubled to a point that he felt the need to remind himself repeatedly that he had only had a bad dream, nothing more. And how childish it was for him to be so troubled by a dream! He shouldn’t be bothered at all!

Saga wanted to believe what he was telling himself, still the fear and the shock from that dream felt far too raw and… _real_ for him.

Throwing the sheet over his head, Saga tried to fall back to sleep, but after half an hour of tossing and turning, sleep still hadn’t reclaimed him. Instead what he had seen in his dream kept coming back to haunt him, no matter how hard he tried to shove those images away.

He knew the dream must be related to Aunt Mito’s house and his previous visit to this house. He had no trouble recognising the surrounding and the details of the house he had seen in the dream as the same house he was currently staying.  But as to the events which took place in his dream, Saga wasn’t so sure if they were from his actual memory, or not.

The remaining part of the night seemed endless, when the first ray of daylight seeping through the window, Saga got up and left the room.

He finished washing and getting change as quickly as he could, then he looked at his watch only to find it was still _very_ early. Sighing, he made his way downstairs.

“Saga-kun? You’re...” The blond-haired teen was in the middle of making coffee when Nao walked into the kitchen, still yawning as he entered, “...so early.”

Nao was obviously surprised to see his friend waking up and going to the kitchen before him.

“Yep, good morning to you, Nao,” Saga replied whilst pouring hot water into his cup, and then started mixing the coffee powder with a plastic spoon, “Coffee, too?”

“Oh yes, thanks,” Nao answered with sleepiness still heavy in his groggy voice. Then, he sat down to watch his friend preparing another cup of coffee for him.

“Did you sleep well last night, pal?” Nao asked with a small hint of concern as he reached for his cup of freshly mixed coffee.

“It was okay…” Saga had his eyes fixed on his own cup as he reply, his voice sounded flat even to his own ears, ”How about you?”

“I did sleep well.”

According to Nao, he had spent the night in perfect peacefulness, his friend didn’t hear any suspicious noise, nor did he find anything unusual around him when he woke up in the morning. In fact, despite the fact that they were staying in a half-abandoned house, Nao still seemed to like the former Amano household. Furthermore, the youth also praised the quietness of the surrounding, the fresh air and the woods, both he seemed to admire. Nao was sure that being in such a relaxing surrounding, so far away from the city and its stressful lifestyle, he was going to have wonderful progress with his writing.

Saga now recalled, parts of the reason for Nao to accompany him was to finish the novel which he planned to submit to a writing contest, which was hosted by a well known publisher. This also explained why Nao was so much more optimistic for this trip than he was, the former Amano household seemed to provide him an ideal place to stay focused and work on his novel. Plus the other man clearly found the surrounding kind of...inspiring.

They had already discussed it before they started this trip and both agreed that they would work together for the clean up; meanwhile Nao would start writing his planned novel during the spare time whilst Saga would simply hang around and try to...relax. Or that was what he had kept telling himself. Both of them were having a break before college started again, and this trip to Mito’s hometown seemed to be not only an ideal destination to spend the holiday, they could also help Saga’s mother to shape up the long uninhabited house a bit during their trip.

Saga listened to his friend without saying anything, he found that listening to Nao’s voice and having his friend’s company, in fact had a calming effect on him. Sunlight was finally breaking through the trees’ branches and was now seeping steadily into the kitchen; adding with the hot liquid of the coffee he made warming him up from within, for once the place appeared to be a lot more welcoming and warmer when they first arrived.

Perhaps Nao was right, despite being left unused and uninhabited for two long years, beneath the layers of dust, the former Amano household was still worth beholding and saving. Once it was all cleaned up, this two story brick-made house would once again shine in all its comforting charm. The uneasiness he had sensed when he first caught sight of the house, was just an effect created by the tiredness he felt after their long hours of driving and the cleaning that came afterward. It was all only in his mind.

Perhaps he did in fact worry too much. Looking around him, everything within the house seemed to be so...normal. Aside from this weird dream from last night, nothing was out of place. They had just spent their first evening in Aunt Mito’s house, without any incident, there was no reason to think the rest of the day here would not be as peaceful and uneventful as their first day and evening in here. 

However, why would the glimpses of the dream he had kept interrupting his thoughts? Even when Aunt Mito’s house seemed so...normal as the rooms were being lightened up by the sunlight; for a moment, he could not find any similarity in his surrounding, which could remind him of the dim, narrow hallways, the locked doors from his dream. 

_“Where’re you, ----?”_

He was certain that he had uttered a name when he was dreaming, but strangely in this dream he couldn’t hear what he had uttered. If only he could recall this name! The blond was certain that if he could recall the name of his playmate, he would be able to make some sense out of this dream/memory.

Deep in thoughts, Saga stayed quiet until Nao’s voice jolted him back to reality.

“Ne, we will need to go to town to buy food and other supply,” The brown-haired young man suggested, whilst popping open the plastic wrapping of a package of buns, which they bought yesterday from a gas station. 

Saga in turn look down at the remaining buns as Nao enjoyed his share. Nao was right, after finishing their breakfast, they would need to go to town and buy some supply, or else they would end up starving high up in this lone house.

“Maybe we should go later, so we can also catch some lunch when we get there.”

“Nice!” Nao was talking with a mouthful of bun still in his mouth, “Before we go, I would do some more exploration around the house. Will you come along?”

Saga smiled at his friend’s suggestion. He knew his friend was excited to find himself in a spacey mansion like this, Aunt Mito’s home and its elegant, antique-liked Western design would probably serve as an inspiration for his friend. Naturally, he would be encouraged to explore. They had cleaned the living room and a few other rooms on the ground floor, but the master bedroom and the other rooms on the second floor had so far been remaining untouched. In fact, they hadn’t even unlocked the doors to those rooms yet.

There were still many places in Mito’s home awaited their attention, many doors to unlock, although Saga had a vague suspicion that they would be able to find any object of interest within those rooms. He doubted there would be anything more exciting than old pieces of furniture waiting for them to discover. No wonder Nao was acting like a child about to start an adventure.

When the blond-haired youth left the kitchen with his friend, he wished he could feel as cheerful as the other did, but the excitement and cheerfulness didn’t seem to reach him. Perhaps it was due to the lack of sleep, perhaps it was something else…...

At the back of his head, he knew the strange little boy he had seen in the garden was still making him feel eerily disturbed. 

to be continued.


	6. Shadowplay part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >Warning: yaoi=guy loves another guy, don’t like don’t read.

Shadowplay Part 6

Just as Nao had announced during breakfast, he started the exploration around the house soon afterward, and he didn’t forget to bring his less than willing friend to come along with him.

They decided to start from the upper floor. As they entered one room after another, they mostly found more pieces of furniture being covered by white cloths in those unused rooms. The progress was a slow one; they would stay in those rooms, taking time to peer under the dust covers of the furniture and drop down notes on the different items in the rooms, and then left everything as they were before locking the doors again.

Nao took note and observed the details of the interior parts of the house as much as he could. Meanwhile, Saga was taking photos with his mobile phone whenever he found damage within the house. He would take the photos back and give them to his mother to see what should be done about those damages. In turn, his mother would decide whether handymen should be sent to repair and redecorate the house. After everything was said and done, it was still up to his mother to decide what would eventually become of this place. If his mother decided the house didn’t worth the trouble of going through the entire reparation progress, it might simply be torn down.

Saga was almost certain when it came down to it, his mother would not be sorry to see her sister’s house being torn down. But if he asked himself, Saga wasn’t so sure about it. Although he had visited Aunt Mito’s house only once, still he felt somewhat...drawn to this house? As though the house was trying to tell him something. As though something was waiting here for him to find out.

Although he had spent most of his life living under his parents’ roof, still it wasn’t like Saga’s last visit to Aunt Mito’s household was his only experience of living outside of his own all-too-familiar home. Instead, he had spent time visiting his grandparents’ home for many times, he had had sleepover in his friends’ homes, he had tried camping before…...but why would being within the former Amano household made him feel somehow _connected_ to this place?

‘Connected’ might be a weird expression, Saga almost wanted to laugh at this absurd thought of his. If only he could deny from time to time, he felt as though part of himself had been lost somewhere within the many rooms of Aunt Mito’s house, and only after he set foot into the house again yesterday, then did he start to recall those missing pieces of his own self.

The longer he spent time within these four walls of his Aunt’s house, the more he felt a sense of _déjà vu_. Like he was about to remember something but couldn’t quite grasp what he was about to recall. He could only sense that this house, those locked rooms, those hidden secrets, they were calling out to him.

Shrugging the thoughts off, Saga closed yet another door behind him, wanting to catch up with Nao, who had already walked further along the main hallway of the second floor.

He found his friend standing in front of one of the doors on the left side of far end of the hallway, furiously twisting the door’s handle.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”  
“I can’t open this door,” Nao stopped, turning back to his friend and complained with a pout.  
“Even with the key?” Saga asked in disbelief, although it almost made him smile when he saw his friend pouting.  
Shaking his head, Nao took a step back away from the door. “You try it.”

Finally, he turned the key, whilst Nao watched. The key took a quarter turn within the keyhole, but then it simply refused to go any further, no matter how much pressure Saga had applied on it. Something seemed to have blocked the keyhole.

With his eyes still fixed on the door’s handle, Nao asked, “You’ve told me that it’s your aunt's room, right? The master bedroom.”

“I supposed it was,” Saga replied flatly. Last night, he had briefly mentioned the location of the master bedroom to his friend before they calling it a night.  
“Perhaps we should just leave it, we may need some kind of tools to unlock this door. We don’t want to damage the lock, right?”

The blonde nodded wordlessly. It was strange, but he was secretly feeling relieved that he had failed to unlock this door. In turn, sparing himself and Nao from discovering what was hidden inside Aunt Mito’s room.

He couldn’t explain it even to himself. He only knew he felt uneasy when Nao led him towards the door to the master bedroom. A voice from the deepest part of his mind was warning him against going near the room, let alone actually _entering_ it. Strange, shady images, which he couldn’t tell coming from memories dreams or imagination, flashed through his mind-eyes. Those half-remembered images froze his heart with dread.

Nao turned around and started heading back to where the staircase was. According to their plan, they would explore the ground floor once they finished with the upper floor. Since the locked master bedroom was the last room at the end of the hallway of the second floor and there was no more room to enter, so it was only reasonable for them to get downstairs.

Wordlessly, Saga followed his friend. Before he reached the top of the stairs, something seemed to stir in his heart, making him turn back to take one last look at where they had come.

His eyes fixed upon the end of the hallway. At first, he didn’t notice anything out of ordinary. It was just a door to his Aunt’s master bedroom on the left side, with another door to an empty room (which they had entered without any incident) on the right side. At the end of the hallway, there was only a solid wall, with no window to the outside. It was just a dead end.

However, from a distance Saga could see the walls at the end of the hallway seemed to look different from the rest of the house. The paint of it seemed to look...darker with a faint shade of red, whilst the rest of the house was painted with pleasing colour of very light orange.

The strange layer of unusual colour had been faded but it was still obvious the walls at the end of the hallway were painted differently from the rest of the interior of the house. The colour looked strange, as though someone had clumsily repainted this part of the house upon an older layer of paint.

Neither him nor Nao was able to notice the difference of the wall paint during their first day in the Amano household, but now Saga couldn’t help noticing how strange it was for his Aunt to paint part of the walls differently from the rest of the house.

***

Saga was in the middle of climbing down the stairs when he heard Nao calling out to him.

“Hey Saga! Come here! You won’t believe what is in this room!” Nao called out, excitement and...nervousness mixed together in his voice?

Quickly, the blonde reached to the ground floor. It didn't take long for him to find Nao standing outside one of the rooms. The door to this certain room was opened.

“Nao, what did you find?”

Nao simply pointed towards the entrance of the room, “Look.”

Saga took the few final steps towards his friend, and peered inside. What he saw made him gasp in shock. At once, dolls and stuffed toys filled his vision. He found himself facing a room filled with dolls of all sizes and forms, dressed in all sort of different, colourful costumes.

Those were antique dolls, made of fine china. There were countless of small _porcelain dolls_ , also many stuffed toys made of soft cloth and other fibers of various types. Some of them were small dolls the size of normal child toys, some were life sized, some were unusually huge, their large forms filling the space. Some were humanoids and some took the forms of different animals.

At the other end of this room, right opposite of the door, there was a window. Part of the glass seemed to be broken. Morning sunlight was streaming steadily into room. Outside, the sun was shining brightly, they could even see part of the garden.

Saga was speechless, out of everything he had expected to find, he didn’t expect to see this. Beside him, Nao whispered under his breath, “Did you know your aunt was sort of a...doll collector?”

“No...” Saga murmured, “I didn’t know.”

In fact, he didn’t know a lot of things when it came to Aunt Mito, and he had a feeling that what little his mother had mentioned to him in the past was nothing more than half-truth.

***

In the late morning, Saga and Nao began their trip downhill to town. They had expected to spend the rest of the afternoon there, finding themselves some lunch, shopping for food and other items before they went back.

Saga did not want to admit it even to himself, but once he got back into Nao’s car, he started to feel himself relaxing, little by little. As though he was releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding, as though being within Aunt Mito’s house had made it difficult to breath for him. Only after leaving its territory, he was able to breath normally again.

“What do you think it means? Those dolls...” As they drove down the hill, Nao tried to bring up their accidental discovery in the morning.  
“I don’t know what to think, Nao,” Saga replied, with a frown knotted between his eyebrows.  
“Can you feel it?”  
“Feel what?”  
“Something...isn’t right about the house.”

Saga was actually surprised to hear Nao said that. He had thought it was only him who thought something wasn’t right about his Aunt’s house. He thought he had only been thinking too much.

“Dolls are fine with me,” Nao explained, “But so many of them being put together in one room? That doesn’t look...normal.”

After saying that, the brown-haired man nervously stole a glance at his friend, afraid of offending Saga with what he had just said. He knew his friend wasn’t particularly close with his late Aunt, but he guessed no one would like to hear comments about their relatives, which hinted that said relatives were might not be...normal.

Saga didn’t know what to say. In his heart, he found himself agreeing with Nao’s opinion, but part of him was still in denial, not wanting to accept the possibility that his dear Aunt Mito might be out of her mind.

The the blond heard his friend talking again.

“Do you think your mother will want to keep them?”  
“Keep what?” Saga asked.  
“Will she want to keep those dolls? From what I saw, some of them might be antiques, you see. They might worth a fortune. Maybe we should go in and take a closer look to make sure—”  
“I am not so sure, Nao,” the blonde spoke unwillingly, “I don’t want to go anywhere near this room at all.”

The shorter man looked a bit disappointed, but he still nodded, “I know, right? This dolls business is just kind of spooky...”

Saga didn’t reply. In his mind, all those dolls were more than just spooky; they were unsettling, disturbing, unnatural. Dolls were supposed to be child’s toys, but those dolls...when they were being gathered in one place, being left to stay there for god’s knew how long, they were _ominous_.

“And it isn’t the only spooky thing in that room,” Nao commented, “Did you see the window of this doll room is in fact broken?”  
“Huh,” Saga nodded. He did notice the broken window, which was opened half way.

Although the sight of the dolls was so unsettling that he had almost forgotten about seeing the window broken, still...now he had to wonder for how long this window had been broken?

“Maybe I’m being paranoid, but the way this window was broken, it looks to me like someone has been there,” Nao added thoughtfully.

Saga shivered at what his friend said. Once again, Nao voiced out what the blonde had only faintly suspected. Did the broken window mean someone else had been there? Who would do this? Breaking into an abandoned house, what for? It wasn’t like there were still many valuable items left, which might be worth breaking into the house to steal. His mother had already mentioned after Aunt Mito’s death, all of the items of value had long been removed from the house for safe keeping.   

“Perhaps it was just some local kids trying to break into the house,” Saga tried to reason, “We should find some boards to block the hole. Just to be on the safe side.”

Nao nodded in agreement, some teenagers were known of breaking into private property and vandalism. So, breaking a window sounded like the sort of thing young people would do, especially when the house was empty and unguarded.

After that they rode in silence, it was unspoken but both were excited to get into town for the first time.

 

***

They arrived to the town at noon just as planned. The first thing they did was to rush to the local restaurant and ordered hot meal to eat. After they were done with stuffing themselves, the two young men then went to visit the town office together. After showing the official the necessary documents, the official of the town office agreed to tell them more information about Amano Mito’s life.

Since they were in a small town, the town office was nothing more than a one story building near the town center, with only a hall, a waiting room and some office rooms along the hallway. Saga and Nao were showed to a waiting room where the aged official gave them a briefing of the history of Amano family, the parts when public affair and the town’s record were concerned. 

According to town’s record, the Amano family—the family of Aunt Mito’s late husband—had lived in this town for as long as everyone could recall. They were one of the local families and they happened to be quite well-known. Especially Mito’s husband, who established a business after he left town. Some 20 or so years later, the man came back to his hometown, bringing with him a newly wedded wife, and started a family here.

Everything seemed to work out well for the family, but then Mito’s husband fell ill and passed away, leaving his surviving widow and child—

A child? 

Saga stirred as the official revealed his Aunt’s family history in a businesslike tone. To the aged official, those information about Aunt Mito and her family were just lifeless details. Something from the past and unrelated to him; but to Saga, the mention of Aunt Mito’s child sent a shock-wave across him. 

Supposedly, he once had a cousin; but for the longest of time, Saga had no memory of said cousin. How messed up could it be?

Whilst the blonde was still struggling to come to term with the fact that some details were mysteriously absent in his memory, the official had already shifted the conversation elsewhere.

“I’m glad to hear the Amano household will be looked after. No one has been up there for a very long time,” the official commented after it was clear that Mito’s sister had inherited the house up the hill, “Mind to tell me what your mother has planned to do with the house, young man?”

“I think she’d like to sell it,” Saga answered truthfully.   
“Selling it......?” For a moment, the aged official seemed very uncertain. Although he quickly schooled his expression back into impassiveness; but it still didn’t escape Saga’s notice. 

“All the best for you two, then,” the official finally said, closing his record book at the same time.  

It was only after he left the town office with Nao, Saga realised he had forgotten to ask the official for more information about Mito’s child.

Not only he couldn’t recall his Aunt having a son, he also didn’t even know what the child was supposed to be named. It left a strange feeling twisting in his heart.

***

After leaving the town office, Saga finally told Nao about the strange circumstance of Aunt Mito and her child, whom Saga could not even remember seeing.

“How come you had a cousin but you didn’t know it? Where is this kid now?” After hearing what his blonde friend had to say, Nao was still hopelessly confused.

In Nao’s family, everyone knew who everyone else was and he always had to accompany his parents to visit one relative or another. For him, it was unbecoming to hear Saga didn’t even know or remember he had a cousin, before today, before they heard the official in the town office mentioning the existence of Amano Mito's child in passing.

“I just don’t know how it could happen...but it feels like...I have never seen Aunt Mito’s son. I can swear I have never heard anyone in the family mentioning him.”  
“So you have never seen him before? The child of your mother’s younger sister? Not even when you stayed in the Amano household with your mother the last time?”  
“Yes…” Saga answer with little hesitation. 

If the child were still alive, he would be a grown man now, and he would surely become the heir of his dearly departed mother’s property...or at least he should show up to look after the house his own mother—Aunt Mito had left behind. That was what children usually would do for their parents under the normal situations, right? The fact that it was Saga’s own mother inheriting Mito’s property was a clear sign that Mito’s child was......not alive. Perhaps Saga did once have a cousin, but at some point said cousin died; that could probably explain why no one in the family had ever mentioned Mito’s child anymore.

Or maybe Mito’s child had gone missing.

But how...ridiculous it was for him to think of things like this! Saga caught himself at this point. The blonde shook his head. He really needed to get a grip or his imagination would go too far. Missing person? Disappearance? Death? It wasn’t some thrillers or detective novels! Such dramatic events would not happen in real life...or so he would believe.

Even when Saga was telling himself not to let his imagination run wild, still he couldn’t ignore the fact that his mother’s version of poor Aunt Mito’s departure was full of holes. Too many things just failed to add up. He should have noticed it sooner, but his trust towards his own mother had blinded him from seeing those holes in his mother’s story.

Too many thoughts were whirling around in his mind but none of them was leading him to an answer. So to Nao, he simply remarked, “Something is wrong about this whole business, Nao. Just like what you’ve said earlier.”

“Maybe you should ask your mother about it? It’s the quicker way I can think of to figure things out,” in turn, Nao suggested reasonably.

Perhaps, it was exactly what he should do.

But why would Saga still feel very unwilling to just do it: picking up the phone and call his mother, then talk to her about his aunt?

***

After leaving the town office, the pair continued to explore more of the town. It was part of their plan for this afternoon but what they didn’t expect was how...drained they felt right now, somehow the excitement of exploring the new surroundings and met up with new people was lost to them.

It also didn’t lighten their mood after they chatted with some of the people in town. They opened some conversations with a handful of townies and they even managed to mention the house on the hilltop during the progress, but they soon noticed all of the townies they had talked to seem to have a strange expression on their faces once the former Amano household was mentioned. 

Most of the townies could tell Saga and Nao were not from the local region, and out of curiosity some of the local folks did come up to ask where they were from and why they were here. So, the pair answered as truthfully as they could; but once they mentioned the Amano household up the hill, everyone seemed to have a strange expression on their faces when they heard the house on top of the hill was to be put on sell soon. Once they heard about the pair was from the house up the hill, even the most friendly local residents seemed to be...on guard when they talked to Saga and Nao.

“Now I have a bad feeling about your mom’s plan of selling the house,” Nao commented as they went back to where his car was parted.

It had been a long day, and they had decided to leave before dusk in order to avoid driving through the overgrown woods after nightfall.

“I know what you mean,” Saga replied with a small sigh.  
“Don’t give up yet. Perhaps some people are still willing to buy it, perhaps this house can serve as some...villa for holidays? The view on top of the hill is great, you know.”

Saga couldn’t help smiling at his friend’s attempt of finding positive things to say, “You have a point.”  
“Perhaps we should also visit the local library for more information about your Aunt’s family. If something bad had happened to them in the past, I’m sure there will be some records or news from old newspaper being stored there.”

The blonde turned his friend’s suggestion over in his head, recalling seeing a small library somewhere near the town hall as they walked pass it earlier today.

“You’re right, we should do it later; and for now...let’s go back."

to be continued.


End file.
